Damazine – In Lieu of Sacrifice

In Lieu of Sacrifice
Tiel Aisha Ansari – United States

I circle round this thought,
afraid to touch or get too close.
Like a bubble swirling in the drain,
a sun in orbit round a black hole,
fearing the tides that tear at me,
the pull of gravity that threatens
to swallow me whole.

Seven times round the Kaaba
without touching it. At last,
drawn to the center, we kneel
and kiss the stone.

Give up. Give in. Give something up —
once on this altar a boy was bound,
and then a ram. And now, every day,
my self,

surrendered in lieu of sacrifice.

Tiel Aisha Ansari is a Sufi, martial artist, and computer programmer living in the Pacific Northwest. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Islamica Magazine, Islamic Ink, The Lyric, and the VoiceCatcher anthology from Portland Women Writers. She is the author of the poetry collection Knocking from Inside, published by Ecstatic Exchange. Visit her online at http://knockingfrominside.blogspot.com.